Healthy Influence Blog

Can you think from the Bible?

Some people find it a collection of ridiculous stories that rival fairy tales.  Some fear it so that they quiver just seeing the gold letters on black leather.  And, of course, there are many stops in between these extremes.

But, can you think from the Bible?

Researchers have determined that the text is among the oldest, authenticated records we have from ancient times.  Considered only as a text, pages of written words, the books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, are among the oldest artifacts of human cognition we possess.  Thousands of years ago, people wrote those words.

The books of the Bible are older than any manuscript we have from Plato or Aristotle.  If you believe the inestimable Ben Jowett wasn’t fooling with his translation of the Dialogs from Plato, then you can accept the Bible in the same way.    And, if you cannot do this,  you haven’t thought the thought through to its end.

So, if we can think about the Bible, what are we to think about persuasion from the Bible?  If there is any truth in persuasion science then it should be apparent in all Walks of life.  Shouldn’t it?

Consider persuasion in Genesis, there at the beginning . . . from the King James translation . . .

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.  And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.  She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate . . .

. . . and the LORD said, “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3:1-6, 11-13.

This passage from Genesis illustrates five persuasion concepts.

1.  Reactance.  Observe the Serpent’s calculated observation of a unfair restriction on Eve’s thought and action with his line “You shall not eat!”

2.  Elaboration Likelihood Model.  The Reactance play stimulates Biased High WATT responding from Eve who is now fully engaged on the Central Route.  Satan then provides a series of Arguments to persuade Eve to break a Law of God.  Eve clearly thinks about the Serpent’s Arguments and elaborates upon them:  “Gee, the fruit of the tree is good for food (the first nutrition argument in recorded history, notify the folks in the Food Police that they’re on the same side as Satan here), the fruit of the tree is pleasant to behold, eating this fruit will make me wise, and finally, I’ll be like God.”  She gives voice to that long conversation in our heads and let’s us know that she is really thinking about Satan’s arguments.  No cues for this woman.

3.  CLARCCS Cues.  Observe Adam and see a classic illustration of Cues.  As detailed in a prior post, he goes for “if others are doing it, you should, too” and “if you like the source, do what she requests” from CLARCCS Cues.  He clearly is a Low WATT processor and took his Fall down the Peripheral Route.

4.  Attribution.  The fourth persuasion variable comes from Adam’s sorry performance.  When questioned by God about his actions, what does Adam come up with:  My wife made me do it.  Thus, we see the first record of external attribution deployed to escape the consequences of bad behavior.  And this is not just a guy thing: Eve blames her attitude change and behavioral choices on the Serpent.  Here we have the first recorded attribution of:  The Devil made me do it.

5.  Modeling.  While Eve used external attribution, where did she get it?  She apparently modeled it from Adam’s example.  There they both stood, naked and now ashamed.  God questions Adam and Adam blames Eve.  Eve watches this and observing Adam’s apparent success with this action, she imitates it herself:  the Serpent made me do it!

Genesis provides a demonstration of the major processes of persuasion in one compact example.  And, you should begin to realize that persuasion is a fundamental element of our eternal and evolved human nature.  Our ability to give and receive persuasive words marks us as human from the beginnings of our recorded history.